A space for discussion about issues raised by the pervasiveness of the web.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Prevent Choking AND Abuse

Net neutrality is vital to the future of America.The American spirit is alive and well in the minds of children through the elderly, able to instantly access all of the information that the internet has to offer, including entertainment. Stopping this for a moment will hurt the users of the internet, and especially the entrepreneurs that are pioneering new and exciting tools on the internet.

Charging content providers for access to consumers is Ludacris, and will go nowhere for our economy.I was infuriated by the comment in the SFGate article that took the “this stance is ridiculous” position.Yes, the ISPs pay billions of dollars to create the infrastructure, but that is what the CUSTOMERS pay for.As a customer that pays for internet access, I pay for the internet provider to give me access to the internet, not some of it.The startup companies pay for the other side, providing access to the internet provider.Billions of dollars are spent in server space, hosting, electricity, cooling, etc.Forget about that Mr. Henry Blodget?Startups are paying for the privilege of access to their consumers, don’t bully them because, as the “Neutrality or Bust” article puts it, “the edge has no single representative.”Don’t bully those without proper representation.

At the same time that it is not proper to be biased against content providers, it is not fair to let people use more than their fair share of the pipeline.Just as we charge for electricity, water, and shipping distribution, few businesses can sustain a purely unlimited model.I have always been a proponent for a pay-as-you-go model, based on the real cost of the usage, so people understand the implications of their use.I do not like the idea of standard insurance just the same, I do not go to the doctor on every sniffel because this translates to real costs for the insurance companies and real cost increases when too many people do it.When people have an incentive to abuse a service without implications, they will.

Net neutrality for content providers is incredibly important to keep the American spirit in innovation alive.